OPERATIONAL PLANNING AND SCHEDULING TOOL

The Parties agree to implement the Operational Planning and Scheduling (OPAS) tool, which includes OPAS and OPAS Lite at all field facilities (collectively referred to as “OPAS”).

Within ninety (90) days of the signing of this Agreement, the Parties at the national level will review the application parameters listed in Appendix M, determine which parameters must be set in accordance with this Agreement, and collaborate on the remaining parameter settings. Once annually, the Parties at the national level will review the parameter settings and collaboratively make adjustments as necessary. The Parties will determine the application parameters that may be modified collaboratively at the local level.

The Parties at the national level will collaborate on other duty (detail) shift designations that will be reflected in OPAS.

Any enhancements and/or updates to OPAS will be addressed by the Parties at the national level.

The Union may designate a National OPAS Representative in accordance with Article 114 of this Agreement. The Union’s National OPAS Representative shall work in collaboration with the Agency's Program Manager for the OPAS Program Management Office.

Within ninety (90) days of the signing of this Agreement, the Parties at the national level shall establish a joint National OPAS Implementation workgroup in accordance with Article 114 of this Agreement. The workgroup shall consist of at least three (3) members from each Party. The Union’s National OPAS Representative and the Agency's Program Manager for the OPAS Program Management Office shall be the co-leads of the National OPAS Implementation workgroup. The national co-leads will designate members of the national workgroup to participate in the activities of the Implementation and Deployment, and Program Support functions. Except for the national co-leads, workgroup members will also serve as members of the national OPAS training cadre as described in Section 6 of this Article. The National OPAS Implementation workgroup will place a priority on implementing OPAS at facilities listed in Appendix N within a period of eighteen (18) months from the beginning of training at the first site.

The national OPAS training cadre will consist of four (4) teams. Each team will be comprised of the following: one (1) Union, one (1) Agency, and one (1) additional instructor. The national OPAS training teams will jointly provide facility training to a maximum of ten (10) participants. The National OPAS Implementation workgroup will advise the Parties at the local level of the number of allocated slots for their facility. The Parties at the local level will collaboratively identify the number of Agency and Union participants.

The participants from each facility shall be designated as the local OPAS training cadre and will consist of teams comprised of one (1) Union and one (1) Agency participant. The local OPAS training team(s) will jointly provide training to all employees within their facility. All training and related activities shall be conducted on duty time.

Bargaining unit employees (BUE) will be assigned one (1) or more of the following authorization levels and associated rights:

a. Principal Facility Representative (PFR)

b. Scheduler

c. Bidding Administration

d. CIC+/CIC

e. BUE

The highest associated right(s) shall apply for BUEs with more than one (1) authorization level.

The authorization levels identified in this Section and their associated rights are defined in the OPAS Authorization Level Agreement, effective on the date of this Agreement. The Parties at the national level shall negotiate any changes to authorization levels and associated rights, as appropriate.

Employees will not be required to maintain an FAA email address in order to access OPAS or to receive notifications.

Employees shall be provided the ability to view OPAS outside of the firewall on PCs, Macs, and mobile devices.

Employees may receive notifications via non-FAA email address and/or text message. Employees shall not be required to participate in the electronic notification features (e.g. text messaging, email) contained within OPAS.

Messages received via OPAS will not serve as official notification of approval or denial of a shift and/or days off change or exchange.

NOTE: The following provisions apply to facilities where OPAS is scheduled to be deployed and implemented.

The Parties at the local level shall collaborate on any modifications to the parameter settings delegated by the Parties at the national level, in accordance with Section 2 of this Article. Once annually, the Parties at the local level will review these parameter settings and collaboratively make adjustments as necessary.

To the extent practicable, ninety (90) days, but in no case less than sixty (60) days, prior to the deployment of OPAS at a facility, the Parties at the local level shall establish an OPAS implementation workgroup consisting of two (2) co-leads: one (1) Union representative and one (1) Agency representative. If necessary, the Parties at the local level may designate additional workgroup participants, in accordance with Article 114 of this Agreement.

At a minimum, the local OPAS implementation workgroup shall address transitioning from existing scheduling tools (e.g. WMT scheduler, paper schedules) to OPAS, the placement of OPAS equipment, and timelines for training on the OPAS tool. Employees will receive OPAS training prior to implementation in their facility/area.

Designated Union representatives shall be invited to participate in all briefings and meetings at the local level regarding the use of OPAS by bargaining unit employees.

The Agency agrees to provide bargaining unit employees with computers that have printer access, and duty time to print/view their schedule and related information contained within OPAS.

OPAS shall be used to maintain the overtime roster(s) in accordance with Article 38 of this Agreement as follows:

a. The roster(s) of qualified BUEs who have indicated a desire to work overtime for each facility/area will be maintained in OPAS.

b. The roster(s) shall contain, at a minimum: employee name, total time (hours/minutes; assigned plus declined), and the result of the call (voicemail, no answer, assigned, excused, declined, and remarks, as appropriate).

c. When utilizing call up overtime, OPAS shall be used to record, at a minimum, the date and time the overtime call was made, the overtime shift being offered, the identification of the individual who made the call, and the result of the call.

d. OPAS shall be used to maintain the facility/area overtime phone list. The facility/area overtime phone list shall allow two (2) contact numbers per employee. If the employee is not directly contacted using the first number, the second number shall be called.

e. OPAS shall be used to track any assignments to employees not listed on the volunteer roster to ensure such assignments are made on an equitable basis.

f. The Agency shall ensure overtime roster(s) are up-to-date and accessible to the operational area(s) on a daily basis. The roster and distribution of overtime provided for in this Article shall be available to bargaining unit employees.

g. OPAS will provide the ability to track the assignment of overtime duties in hour and/or minute increments, as appropriate.

The overtime function(s) in OPAS will be used unless it conflicts or is not compatible with the locally negotiated procedures.

If agreed to by the Parties at the local level, OPAS shall be used for entering Prime Time Leave/Non-Prime Time Leave (PTL/NPTL) bids/requests in accordance with Article 24 of this Agreement. Locally negotiated PTL/NPTL opportunities shall be annotated in OPAS.

Unless otherwise negotiated locally, all annual leave requests in excess of the locally negotiated PTL/NPTL opportunities, including spot leave, shall be submitted via OPAS. When OPAS is not accessible, such requests shall be submitted to a FLM/CIC. When the leave request is submitted to a FLM/CIC, the FLM/CIC receiving the request will enter the request into OPAS. Leave request(s), submitted either verbally or in writing, shall be recorded in OPAS in the order in which they were received and shall indicate the time it was requested. Annual leave approvals/disapprovals will be handled in accordance with Article 24 of this Agreement.

All requests for schedule and shift/RDO change requests/swaps shall be submitted via OPAS. When OPAS is not accessible, such requests shall be submitted to a FLM/CIC. When the request is submitted to a FLM/CIC, the FLM/CIC receiving the request will enter the request into OPAS. Request(s), submitted either verbally or in writing, shall be recorded in OPAS in the order in which they were received and shall indicate the time the request was made.

In the event OPAS is unavailable due to a technical problem, the FLM/CIC shall record any requests (e.g. shift change, swap, leave requests) using an alternative method as agreed to by the Parties at the local level, in chronological order, along with the date and time of the request. The tracking and assignment of overtime shall be recorded using an alternative method as agreed to by the Parties at the local level. The FLM/CIC shall enter the tracking and assignments of overtime that occurred during the OPAS outage as soon as practicable.